Outrage in Morocco following Political Arrest of Nacer Zefzafi and 27 Rifi Activists

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Rabat, Morocco (TMT)- The reverberations of the political arrest of Nasser Zefzafi, the leader of the ongoing peaceful protests in the Rif region, and 27 other Rifi activists is all but soothing down as no less than 20 Moroccan city witnessed last Monday peaceful protests to condemn the political arrest and ask the authorities to immediately release the 28 activists.

Yesterday the Moroccan authorities dispersed peaceful protesters in Casablanca, Rabat, Marrakesh, and Kenitra, violently clashing at times with protesters.

Mohammed Ziyan, former Moroccan Minister of Human Rights, staunchly condemned the arrests, stressing that investigating the detainees for undermining the “security of the state” and “obstructing freedom of worship,” after Nacer and other activists interrupted a Friday prayer sermon inside the Mohammed V mosque in Al Hoceima when the imam started criticizing their 7 months long protest, “is absurd and shows the stupidity of the people who take decisions in Morocco.”

“The imam and the Minister of Religious Affairs have no right to get into politics in a Friday sermon, by the power of the law,” Ziyane stressed.

“The imam was in a breach of the law and has no right to say whether he is for or against the popular upraising in the Rif because if he is in support of it, I have the right to be against it,” and vice versa, Ziyane further noted.

Nasser Zefzafi, the Rif protests’ most prominent activist, has been arrested on Monday, while most arrests were made on Friday and Saturday.

All activists were then transferred in a helicopter to Casablanca.

The political arrest of the 28 Rifi activists sparked an uproar in Morocco as various protests took place in no less than 20 Moroccan city.

The hashtags كلنا_ناصر_الزفزافي(We are all Nacer Zefzafi) #كلنا_الحراك_الشعبي# ‬ (We are all the popular upraising) are currently trending in the kingdom.